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Facebook: boon or bane?

Facebook is the second most used word in the world that starts with an ‘F’ and ends with a ‘K’. It has more users than the whole population of Australia. In today’s world, Facebook is a necessity and life without Facebook notifications is unimaginable for many. But how far does it help the daily mortal? Or does it wear a hideous cruel mask behind? Here, let’s discuss this a bit further.

The first thing *Samantha, 21, does in the morning is look out for Facebook notifications and new friend requests. She loves interacting with new people and explore new things and Facebook seems to be the right platform (btw, she just hooked up with one *Marc Zeyd and they both are going strong since). Ahmed Khan, owner of a startup, pledges his never-ending thanks to Mark Zuckerberg for it was Facebook that increased the visibility of his startup and gave way for more recognition. One humorous video about the company and their name was on every wall which in turn led to more customers/profits. Being a teacher doesn’t mean that work is to be done only in the classroom. Rishika checks with her students daily, clears their doubts, conducts some impromptu online classes and assigns them new tasks, all on Facebook. In a nutshell, Facebook indeed has been a revolution of sorts for the majority, allowing them to minimize their efforts for the social platform and rather focus more on the important tasks and activities. This has led to increased productivity all around.

(‘After Twenty Years’ wouldn’t have had ended that way, had Facebook existed during O’ Henry’s time)

‘Every rose has its thorns’ comes a famous proverb. So does Facebook. People get so engrossed with it and its notifications that other important priorities of life start getting sidelined. You spend hours chatting with a just-discovered haute girl without knowing that your mom had just asked you to get some soup from the market. You waste hours virtually fighting your ‘enemies’ in Mafia Wars and this adds up to your real-time aggressive behavior. You bow down to peer pressure and end up adding each and every minute detail of your life on Facebook, thus throwing away large chunks of important time which could have been utilized in a much better way. The list is endless.

The spotlight finally comes back on a user. It entirely depends on how a user ends up wasting/utilizing his time on Facebook. Priorities need to be assigned; time limits should be maintained et al.